The Impact of Hand Movement Velocity on Cognitive Conflict Processing in a 3D Object Selection Task in Virtual Reality.

Detecting and correcting incorrect body movements is an essential part of everyday interaction with one's environment. The human brain provides a monitoring system that constantly controls and adjusts our actions according to our surroundings. However, when our brain's predictions about a planned action do not match the sensory inputs resulting from that action, cognitive conflict occurs. Much is known about cognitive conflict in 1D/2D environments; however, less is known about the role of movement characteristics associated with cognitive conflict in 3D environment. Hence, we devised an object selection task in a virtual reality (VR) environment to test how the velocity of hand movements impacts human brain responses. From a series of analyses of EEG recordings synchronized with motion capture, we found that the velocity of the participants' hand movements modulated the brain's response to proprioceptive feedback during the task and induced a prediction error negativity (PEN). Additionally, the PEN originates in the anterior cingulate cortex and is itself modulated by the ballistic phase of the hand's movement. These findings suggest that velocity is an essential component of integrating hand movements with visual and proprioceptive information during interactions with real and virtual objects

Cognitive conflict in virtual reality based object selection task : an EEG study to understand brain dynamics associated with cognitive conflict in a virtual reality 3D object selection task

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Cognitive conflict is an essential part of everyday interaction with the environment and is often characterized as a brain’s action monitoring and control system that activates when prediction based on previous experience acquired from the environment does not match with derived knowledge from sensory inputs from cognitive processing. Although cognitive conflict can be seen as an essential part of learning about the environment, it requires the brain to assign a higher number of cognitive resources such as attention, memory, and engagement compared to non-conflicting conditions. In this work, cognitive conflict has been evaluated in a three-dimensional (3D) object selection task in a virtual reality environment by assessing, evaluating, and understanding the factors of visual appearance, task completion time, movement velocity during interaction and its implications for a sense of agency, and presence in a virtual reality (VR) environment. An electroencephalogram (EEG)-based approach along with behavioral information is used. The results show that the amplitude of negative event-related potential (50-150 ms), defined as prediction error negativity (PEN), correlates with the realism of the rendering style of virtual hands during the interaction. It was also found that PEN amplitudes are significantly more pronounced in slow trials than fast trials. Based on these findings, a closed-loop BCI system has been designed to assess the effect of cognitive conflict in 3D object selection and provide the matrices which can improve users’ feelings of a sense of agency towards VR. These findings suggest that a realistic representation of the user’s hand, compatible task completion time and hand movement velocity are essential components for the better integration of information from both visual and proprioceptive systems during the interaction to avoid cognitive conflict due to a mismatch between action and expected feedback. The findings also suggest that the assessment of cognitive conflict measured by PEN can improve the overall experience of the 3D object selection task in a VR environment. Collectively, these findings provide a glimpse of understanding into how the brain dynamics behind interaction works and its implications in assessment for the content development industries in VR

Positive Media: An Introductory Exploration

Media has become an increasingly large part of our lives, and therefore plays a crucial role in our well-being. Positive psychology, the science of well-being, can be complemented through the new potentialities of media, which in many ways also seeks to improve the human experience. I create the context for a new dialogue about what positive media might be. By adopting a positive lens and discussing exemplars in different formats, this paper explores the ways media effectively incorporates elements of well-being. Through this positive approach, we gain an appreciation for what media does well. The paper also recommends ways that people can consume media in support of their well-being, and ways media creators can design content that optimizes human flourishing. Lastly, the paper encourages a dialogue between the important fields of positive psychology and media. With a partnership between these fields, it posits the opportunity for dramatically increasing global well-being